GOP's secret weapon: Mom

House Republicans say they’d never push grandma over the proverbial Medicare cliff. If you don’t believe it, just ask their parents, who are starring in a string of early ads by vulnerable lawmakers.

Taking a cue from Paul Ryan — the author of the Medicare makeover plan Democrats are trying to bury them with — vulnerable GOP lawmakers are invoking mom and dad as character witnesses in a string of early campaign ads. Ryan brought his mom along to several campaign events after he was picked as Mitt Romney’s No. 2 last month.

Who better, the vulnerable House members say, to counter potentially lethal Democratic attacks that they want to end a program that’s near and dear to seniors.

There’s Virginia Rep. Scott Rigell, who’s out with a TV ad showing him standing on a porch with his mother and father. “Folks like my parents unselfishly built this nation, and we owe them security in return,” the congressman says in the commercial. “That’s why I’m fighting to improve Medicare … every day in Congress.”

Indiana Rep. Larry Bucshon’s mother-in-law dominates his latest spot: The congressman doesn’t even appear until the very end.

“No matter what liberal politicians might say, you can trust Larry to protect Medicare,” she says. “I should know: I trusted him with my daughter.”

Nevada Rep. Joe Heck recalls in a new ad that his father suffered a heart attack two years ago. “That’s when I knew how important Medicare was to me,” Heck tells viewers. “Medicare and a team of great doctors saved my father’s life.”

The idea behind the ads, Republicans strategists say, is to put a human face on the Medicare issue and assuage skeptical voters who might think the GOP wants to do away with entitlement programs. To Democrats, the fact that their opponents are bringing their parents into the debate is a sure sign Republicans are in damage-control mode.

The TV ads show how both parties are trying to message around the entitlement issue ahead of the election. Democrats argue that the Republican plan would destroy the Medicare system as it now exists; Republicans are trying to convince voters that they want to reform the health care program in order to save it. Romney’s selection of Ryan only raised the stakes of the debate, which was already expected to play an outsize role in House campaigns this fall.

Republicans say to expect plenty more parents showing up in TV commercials between now and Nov. 6, calling it a powerful tool for neutralizing what’s emerged as the central Democratic attack line of the campaign. The three lawmakers who used their parents in ads so far are in some of the nation’s most competitive races and have come under fierce attack in the weeks since Ryan was selected.